The Avengers

‘The Avengers’ is the final film in Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After Tom Hiddleston’s Loki steals an object of immense power, super-spy Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) unites the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to defend the planet from an alien invasion. The movie features the stars of every previous Marvel Studios production, including Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, and Chris Hemsworth as Thor (with Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as the Hulk). Thanks to a terrific cast, clever writing and crisp direction from Joss Whedon, and an infectious sense of fun, ‘The Avengers’ became a massive worldwide success, grossing more than $1.5 billion worldwide. A sequel, ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron,’ opens next summer, with at least two more sequels to follow after that.

In case you forgot, there's a Lego Marvel video game still on the docket this year. That's on top of Lego Jurassic World, Lego Worlds and Lego Dimensions, all of which are either currently available or coming very, very soon. Though we haven't had a Lego Marvel game proper since Lego …

Everyone wants a piece of the Avengers pie. When a movie with a global audience this large is at stake, there's no brand deal that doesn't make sense to at least attempt. We've already seen Under Armour, Samsung and Gillette, among others, team up with Marvel and Disney to produce a f…

Marvel and Disney have an understandable habit of tailoring the animated series to match the films (just look at Guardians of the Galaxy), and both Avengers Assemble and Ultimate:Spider-Man are in line for makeovers. Not only will either get new seasons, but they’ll do so as Marvel’s A…

Since Avengers: Age of Ultron is already well on its way to making $1 billion worldwide, chances are strong that you’ve already seen Marvel’s latest adventure and won’t need a spoiler warning about the apparent death of a main character. Still, just in case, here’s a spoi…

Avengers: Age of Ultron is the eleventh film in Marvel Studios’ ongoing quest to dominate your disposable income for the rest of your moviegoing life, the biggest, loudest and most expensive chapter yet in what is quickly becoming a triumph of Hollywood marketing and corporate one-upmanship. …

It’s not coincidence that Scarlett Johansson guest hosted SNL on the same weekend that Avengers: Age of Ultron opened in theaters, so of course the show had to do a Marvel sketch of some kind. And unlike the previous Avengers sketches cooked up for Chris Hemsworth and Jeremy Renner, this one …

With the arrival of Avengers: Age of Ultron this week, we are officially 11 movies deep in the wildly ambitious and massively popular Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not including TV shows like Daredevil, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter, that’s approximately 23 hours of superhero content, …

By the time you read this, I will be on my way to “The Ultimate Marvel Marathon.” It’s 11 films back to back to back; all the official entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from 2008’s Iron Man to this week’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. By the time the final credi…

The comic book movie craze may have exploded in recent years, but there have been movies and TV shows based on our favorite comics for decades. For all the action we see on screen, however, we hardly ever get to see behind the curtain at how it all comes together.

One of the main reasons so many people have taken to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the interconnectedness of it all. At the same time, the attention to continuity and building a new superhero canon has wreaked no small amount of havoc on the creative end, where producers and writers and directors…